Sale nuit

I was up late the other night and this was on HBO. I only started to watch it because of John Henson, who I liked watching on "Talk Soup". Boy, was this a stretch for him!

"Stag"'s premise is simple enough, but the writing and cinematography were complex. As I was watching, I was reminded of another engrossing film... "Suicide Kings". Both take place in one location (mostly), and both involve a group of guys dealing with their recent actions, and a hostage. Both also have a known comedic actor (in this case Henson) doing a dramatic turn. And VERY well, I might add.

Unlike most movies, this one doesn't quite turn out like you think it will, not completely. For mostly B Actors, I was very impressed with the quality of the work. I'm also surprised more impressive talents didn't sign on after Jerry Stiller got attached to the movie! But nonetheless... if you liked "Suicide Kings" you should like "Stag" as well.

From watching the start of the movie, i though that Stag looked quite promising. The introduction of each character, although minimalist, was quite effective... there would be a freeze frame on each character, and some text describing their occupation and past.

Unfortunately the movie takes it time to get to the crucial plot twist that this movie is based on. There's a lot of uninteresting dialog and a scene of gratuitous sex. "When's this movie going to start!" i was left thinking for a good while.

So eventually after the death of the stripper, the protagonists of the movie try to figure out what to do next. But... this is the problem... they spend the entire movie trying to figure out what to do next. And even worse, they still haven't figured out what to do even after the end credits come up. But obviously you don't expect this to happen when you first see this movie, so it's the only thing keeping you watch it.

At the end of the movie i was left feeling very unsatisfied. There could've been such an interesting story made from the idea it presents to you at the start. (Well maybe not the *start*... it does drag on quite a bit ;-) I was expecting some great little plot twists or an intelligent story, but no, the outcome in my opinion is unbelievable and unfinished.

I thought the movie was very professionally executed, although I didn't care for all the violence. Enjoyed some of the performances, including Taylor Dayne & Lawrence Leritz as the cop....I recognized him from TV shows.

What I think is most interesting about the movie "Stag" is that it shares a plot and action line almost indentically with a very bad movie entitled "Very Bad Things". Even more of note is the fact that while "Stag" does not have the power of an well known ensemble, it more than makes up for it in sheer entertainment value. With the star power of Cameron Diaz and Christian Slater, it was expected that "Very Bad Things" would be a very funny movie. On the other hand I believe "Stag" is pleasantly surprising in the fact that it is actually quite funny in a dark twisted sort of way without blowing its budget on big name actors that were not able to pull off the comedic timing. Instead virtual no names (aside from Stiller) were utilized to produce a shadowly comic tale.

Second rate story about a stag party that goes array when a woman is accidentally killed. Because of the status of some of the male party members, they need to cover their tracks and protect themselves. Poor material delivered by a mostly unsatisfying cast.